Suggestions for improvements for a new version.

Hello,

I have some suggestions for improvements to the Stepcraft version 2.

1. The cutting height is very limiting, specially with the 4th axis installed, the maximum diameter of the workpiece is effectively halved to 6-7cm stock. It would be great if there was a taller Z axis say 5 to 10cm extra height as an option.

2. The Brass / Bronze guide bushings on all axis wear out too easily, and cause large play 1-2mm of errors eventually. It would be easy to replace the Bushing and thread with like a C7 grade Precision guide rod that would not wear out. You would need to move the rollers further apart to accommodate the larger roller bearing, which would also support a higher Z axis cutting height.

3. The Vacuum port I have found is too small, and easily clogs when cutting wood. needs a larger opening. It is also extremely noisy with the high powered vacuum we have, it makes more noise than the router !

4. We would have paid to get a longer Y platform as an option - longer wires, longer side pieces, modular or longer aluminium tray and it would be a straight forward mod. Even double the length 1680.

5. Stronger stepper motors with a higher powered spindal. Current setup is ok for wood, but aluminium was very slow to machine - and speeds and feeds could not be used because the spindal rpm needed to allways be at maximum, the torque is not enough to keep if there when setting an appropriate feed rate for chip loading. so we end up using maximum 2mm, 20,000 rpm and 3000mm/mm/minute speed all the time.